When she was named Principal Dancer for the Houston Ballet in 1990, Lauren Anderson became the first African American to hold such a position in a major ballet company. Anderson talks with Linda Lorelle about growing up in Houston, her ballet...

A successful Banker and a top graduate from Stanford Business School, Marc Shapiro was the President and Chief Executive of the Texas Commerce Bank. He retired in 2003 as Vice Chairman for finance and risk management at JP Morgan Chase & Co. He is...

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Raul Castillo worked for the City of Houston in the Affirmative Division. His interest in the mass transit problems in Houston started in 1970, when he tried to delve into the problems of the metropolitan bus system....

Dick Gottlieb was a former TV entertainer who decided to run for city council in 1969. He beat the incumbent in a run-off election achieving an upset victory. He credited his TV image and prior experience as a fundraiser for local and national...

Daniel Bustamante was born in south Texas and attended the University of Houston where he became politically active with the MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization) group and the leftist Raza Unida Party in the late 1960s. Throughout the 1970s,...

Mrs. Betty Lou Bayless was a fixture in the many volunteer and charitable organizations of Houston. In this interview, Bayless describes her time as the President of the Junior League, Board Trustee of the Houston Ballet Foundation, Founding...

Roy Soliz was born in Houston where he graduated from Jefferson Davis High School and attended the University of Houston before fighting briefly in World War II. He was a well-known civic activist in the Hispanic, Mexican American, and Chicano...

Margaret Webb Dreyer studied at the University of Texas and the Museum of Fine Arts School and honed her abstract expressionist painting style during time spent in San Miguel, Mexico. Dreyer worked in watercolor as well as acrylics and oil and was...

Judge Ben C. Connally served as a chief judge in the Southern District of Texas for over 10 years and then achieved senior status. In this interview, Connally discusses the responsibilities of a judge, the influence of the Warren court, his...

Dr. Russel J. Blattner came to Houston in 1947. In his oral history, Dr. Blattner details his medical career and describes the Houston medical center in the 1940s and 1950s. Dr. Blattner shares stories about many well known doctors such as Dr....

Tatcho Mindiola, director of the Mexican American Studies program at the University of Houston, describes race relations in Houston in the 1950s and 1960s, and talks about his career as a community activist.

A native Houstonian, Dan Arnold grew up in the Depression era. Graduating from the Univ. of Texas in Law, he worked for Vinson and Elkins. Dan Arnold has shown an exemplary record of community service. He was involved in the City and County Charity...

Ed Gerlach began playing piano at the age of 5 before switching his focus to soprano saxophone and later tenor saxophone. Gerlach discusses his career as a saxophonist, including his time with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Gerlach also share his...

Ben Kaplan started work at the Hudson Dispatch in Union City, New Jersey. After a few years, he came to Houston and joined the Houston Press as a freelance journalist. He also worked as a City Hall reporter and Courthouse Reporter.